94 HORSES 



the bent wrist is considered the correct style, and 

 it has this advantage — you can get a more deHcate 

 feel of a horse's mouth ; but the average driver is 

 much too heavy-fisted to appreciate why he does it. 



For ordinary driving there is nothing better than 

 a plain snaffle-bit, and if the pony cannot be held 

 with that he is not fit for a young driver. 



Driving-reins are much too heavy to get a really 

 delicate touch on a horse's mouth, and for that 

 reason I recommend an easy bit. 



No one with any consideration for a horse ever 

 thinks of using a bearing-rein. 



• ••••• 



A few final hints on horsemanship, and I have 

 done. 



Riding is an art that can only be attained by con- 

 stant practice, and the man who tells you he felt 

 quite comfortable the first time he was on the back 

 of a horse, you may put down as a perverter of the 

 truth. No one need despair, however hopeless he 

 may feel in the saddle, and he may be certain 

 others have felt equally awkward in the same posi- 

 tion. Like everything else, it is much easier to 

 acquire when young, but any one with determina- 

 tion and nerve can learn to ride, even if he has 

 reached middle age. 



Riding is not natural to the human being any 

 more than swimming, and a man is as much at 

 sea for the first time on a horse as he is in deep 

 water. The boy acquires the knack of doing both 

 without much trouble and without knowing how 



